Municipal street lights, traffic lights, highway lights and lighting for parking lots, playing fields and the like are generally mounted on hollow metal poles which are secured to a concrete base by anchor bolts. The lighting fixture is mounted at the top of the pole. The electrical wiring for providing electrical power to the lighting fixture is connected to underground cables which extend upwardly through the pole base. Near the bottom of the pole, an access hole or hand-hole, covered with a removable cover plate, is provided so that a service person can access the wiring for servicing, such as changing a fuse.
Due to increases in commodity prices, particularly the price of copper, theft of copper wiring from street lights has become a serious problem. Thieves access the wiring through the hand-hole, connect the wiring to a truck or car and pull up long sections of wiring which is sold as scrap metal. Damage done to the lighting system by such activities is considerable. Merely locking the hand-hole cover does not solve the problem. The present inventor has disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,723,612, which is incorporated herein by reference, an apparatus for securing electrical wiring against theft through the access opening of an electrical fixture supporting pole, the electrical fixture supporting pole comprising an elongated hollow pole having an upper end and a lower end adapted for removably securing to a base, and an access opening located proximate the lower end, wherein the base is provided with a passage for receiving an electrical power supply cable, the apparatus comprising an upright element for securing to the base and having an element extending in a direction perpendicular to the base once secured thereto, and means for releasably securing an electrical cable to the upright element, wherein the upright element is configured to prevent access to the means for releasably securing an electrical cable from the access opening when the lower end of the pole is secured to said base.
In many utility poles which are provided adjacent highways, frangible bases are included to reduce death and injury from vehicles colliding into the utility poles. An example is the aluminum frangible base shown in British Columbia MOTI Specifications MS340.1 and MS340.2. In such designs the base of the utility pole attaches to the frangible base which in turn is secured to the concrete base. The frangible base has an access opening so use of the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,723,612 by itself may be inadequate in such structures as thieves can access the wiring through the frangible base access opening.
There is therefore a need for a system which inhibits wire theft from street and traffic light poles having a frangible base. The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related thereto are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.